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Summary

The Destiny was built by the Ancients a long time ago when they lived in the Milky Way. The ship, launched from Earth, was meant to be a manned exploration vessel that followed automated starships that planted Stargates on planets throughout the universe, one galaxy at a time. Destiny was never boarded by its intended crew, but continued on an automated course that followed these seeder ships and updated its database with information about each of the planets on which a Stargate was placed.

Millions of years later, Earth's Icarus Base personnel ended up aboard Destiny. They discovered that they may input their needs into the computer system and the Destiny will propose several planets within range that had a high probably of success.

When Destiny decides on the planets to visit, it drops out of faster-than-light speed, dials the first planet on the list, and starts a countdown timer of 12 hours before it resumes its automated course. Because of this time limit, it's possible for those who are on a planet to get left behind with no way to return to the ship. However, it was discovered on the first trip through Destiny's Stargate that the ship has certain protocols in place that prevent the Stargate from shutting off while matter is being buffered, even after the countdown has completed. Once the wormhole is clear (that is, once everyone arrives whole on the other side), Destiny powers down the Stargate and resumes its faster-than-light course.

Mission 1: Desert Planet: Obtain Calcium Carbonate

Desert Planet selected by Destiny to have calcium carbonate

"Dust Devil" visits the exhausted Scott and leads him to the lake bed

Goal: Find calcium carbonate to scrub carbon dioxide from the air supply system aboard Destiny.

Outcome: Curtis and Palmer overrode the lockout on another planet and went through the Stargate to investigate, but all contact was lost with them. They were left behind when the Destiny left the area. Greer shot Franklin, who was about to follow Curtis and Palmer, in the shoulder in order to save his life since Rush believed that going to a planet locked out by the Destiny meant certain death. Lt. James led a three-man S&R team to find Scott and Greer who were farthest from the Stargate and out of contact, but had to return to the Stargate without success because of the countdown. Scott found the calcium carbonate, apparently with the help of a sentient lifeform that manifested itself in the form of a dust devil, but he and Greer weren't able to make it back to the Stargate before the countdown ended. Eli Wallace held the wormhole open beyond the 12-hour countdown by sticking his arm into the event horizon, thus providing Scott and Greer enough time to make it through.

Lifeforms: There appeared to be a sentient lifeform that manifested itself in a dust devil that led Scott to the lake bed composed of calcium carbonate. (See Mission 3)

Outcome: This planet, sitting between a planet that was too hot and one that was too cold in the "Goldilocks zone", was considered the best choice of the three inhabitable worlds near where the Destiny had stopped. The shuttle was launched before the Destiny got too close to a sun that they thought it would be colliding into. The spectrographic analysis for the planet indicated that there was oxygen, nitrogen, liquid water, and only trace levels of carbon dioxide. Brody predicted that it wouldn't have much vegetation and that the thermometer wouldn't be spending much time above zero. To everyone's surprise, the Destiny entered the sun on purpose in order to gather energy to recharge its reserves. The shuttle crew returned to the Destiny, but not without a few scratches on the shuttle's bottom due to a death-defying landing piloted by Scott after he used the planet's gravity to slingshot into an intercepting course.

Outcome: The planet was uninhabitable, with a temperature of -47° Celsius and an atmosphere composed of .13% molecular oxygen and 95% carbon dioxide with an hint of argon, but Destiny brought the crew here because there was water. Eli Wallace nicknamed the planet "Hoth" after the ice planet in the Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back movie. In order to even step foot on the planet, Young and Scott had to don protective suits left by the Ancients long, long ago. They had approximately eight hours' worth of oxygen if they didn't over exert themselves. Snow and ice near the Stargate contained ammonia and other toxic chemicals, so the two men went further from the Stargate. They found pure water in a frozen waterfall, but getting the chunks of ice was slow work, even with a plasma cutter and a kino-cart that hovered. To complicate matters, there were slight tremors and Scott fell through the ice into a crevasse. It took time for Young to pull him out, but Young refused to lose any more men under his command, so he opted to save Scott rather than bring in the second load of ice.

Lifeforms: Some of the "sand entities" that Scott encountered as a dust devil on Mission 1 had followed him through the Stargate and were discovered to be the ones rapidly depleting the water supply in order to reproduce. For the most part, they were peaceful, but when Cpl. Gorman fired his gun at them, they attacked and killed him. The alien group, which had grown exponentially, was led by Lt. Johansen into a barrel containing water and sent through the Stargate to this planet. Recognizing Scott, they left the two men alone and went on their way on their new homeworld.